Clawson police: Teen girls were followed by stranger in car

Clawson Police are warning residents to be aware of a man in a blue car who tried to pick up two girls walking home from Clawson Middle School.

"We now have increased patrols around the schools since the incident happened," said Clawson Police Lt. Scott Sarvello. "We're checking to see whether anyone is hovering around the schools."

Two girls, 14, were walking home about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday from school on Main Street, south of 14 Mile Road.

The girls said they were being followed by a late-model blue car with a white man in his 20s behind the wheel, police said.

As the girls walked south on Main Street, the man in the car would drive down a side street and then come back up to Main one block farther to the south. The man in the car would arrive back at Main Street just as the girls were reaching the intersections of the side streets, police said.

"At one point the man said hello and asked the girls if they wanted a ride," Sarvello said.

The girls refused the man's offer of a ride and kept walking.

"At that point the man drove off," Sarvello said.

One of the girls later told her mother about the incident and the mother called the school the next day. Sarvello said police didn't learn what happened until after that, and asked that residents immediately report suspicious incidents to the police.

"Obviously, it's not a good thing when 14-year-old girls are walking home and something like this happens," he said. "These kinds of incidents happen more often as the weather gets nicer and kids are out more and walking around."

Police said the girls in Tuesday's incident were unable to identify what make and model of car the man was driving or get his license plate number.

Anyone with information is asked to call Clawson Police at 248-435-5000